An Act to declare certain persons therein mention indemnified for having sat and voted as Members of the House of Commons, while holding certain offices under the Crown

Contents

An Act to declare certain persons therein mention indemnified for having sat and voted as Members of the House of Commons, while holding certain offices under the Crown.

Preamble.

B. N. A. Act recited.

Case of Members of the Dominion Government.

Case of Members of the Provincial Governments of Ontario and Quebec.

1. The several persons mentioned in the Preamble declared capable of sitting and voting and indemnified for haying sat and voted.

2. E. M. McDonald, of Lunenburgh, declared eligible.

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31 Victoria, c. 26 (Canada)

An Act to declare certain persons therein mention indemnified for having sat and voted as Members of the House of Commons, while holding certain offices under the Crown

[Assented to 22nd May, 1868.]

Preamble.

 Whereas by the forty-first section of the British North America Act, 1867, it is among other things in effect provided,

B. N. A. Act recited

that until Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, all laws in force in the several Provinces now forming the Dominion of Canada, relative to the qualifications and disqualifications of persons to be elected or to sit and vote as Members of the House of Assembly or Legislative Assembly in the several Provinces, and the vacating of seats of Members, and the execution of new writs in case of seats vacated otherwise than by dissolution, shall respectively apply to Elections of Members to serve in the House of Commons for the same several Pro vinces ; and whereas by the laws in force in the said several Provinces at the time of the passing of the said Imperial Act, persons holding offices of profit or emolument at the nomination of the Crown in the said Provinces respectively, were disqualified from being elected or sitting and voting as Members of the House of Assembly or Legislative Assembly thereof, subject to the exception, that persons holding certain offices and being also Members of the Executive Council of the Province, or holding offices commonly held by Members of such Executive Council, called and known as Ministers of the Crown, might be elected, sit and vote as such Members, if elected after their appointment to such offices ;

Case of Members of the Dominion Government

and whereas the several persons hereinafter mentioned while holding the offices also hereinafter mentioned respectively, and being also Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, were elected Members of the House of Commons, that is to say : The Honorable Sir John Alexander Macdonald, K. C. B., while holding the offices of Minister of Justice and Attorney General, was elected Member for the City of Kingston,—the Honorable George Etienne Cartier, while holding the office of Minister of Militia, was elected Member for the electoral district of Montreal East,—the Honorable Samuel Leonard Tilley, C. B., while holding office of Minister of Customs, was elected Member for the City of St. John,—the Honorable Alexander Tilloch Galt, while holding the office of Minister of Finance, was elected Member for the Town of Sherbrooke,—the Honorable William McDougall, C. B., while holding the office of Minister of Public Works, was elected Member for the North Riding of the County of Lanark,—the Honorable William Pearce Howland, C. B., while holding the office of Minister of Inland Revenue, was elected Member for the West Riding of the County of York,—and the Honorable Hector Louis Langevin, while holding the office of Secretary of State of Canada, was elected Member for the County of Dorchester ; and the said persons being so elected have since such election, sat and voted in the said House of Commons as Members thereof, while holding the said offices which they still hold respectively, except the Honorable Alexander Tilloch Galt, who after so sitting and voting during a certain time, resigned his said office of Minister of Finance, to which the Honorable John Rose was appointed in his stead, and while holding the said office was elected Member for the County of Huntingdon, and has since his election sat and voted in the said House as a Member thereof ; and whereas the said offices, although no salary or emolument was attached to any of them at the time of the acceptance thereof by the persons aforesaid respectively, or at the time of their said election respectively, may yet, by reason of the expectation that salaries or emoluments would be attached to them, be considered as offices of profit under the Crown ; and whereas also the said offices, although not literally the same with those as to which it was provided by the Provincial Acts aforesaid or some of them, that persons holding them might, if re-elected after their appointment, sit and vote as Members of the House of Assembly or Legislative Assembly to which such Provincial Acts applied, are yet offices of like nature, and it is consistent with the spirit and intent of the Provincial Laws aforesaid, that persons holding them and being also Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, and responsible Ministers of the Crown, should sit and vote in the House of Commons ;

Case of Members of the Provincial Governments of Ontario and Quebec

and whereas also, the several persons hereinafter mentioned while holding the offices hereinafter mentioned, respectively, and being at the same time Members of Her Majesty's Executive Council for the Province in which they hold such offices, respectively, were elected Members of the House of Commons, that is to say : the Honorable Pierre Joseph Olivier Chauveau, while holding the offices of Secretary and Registrar and Minister of Public instruction for the Province of Quebec, was elected Member for the County of Quebec,—the Honorable Christopher Dunkin, while holding the office of Treasurer for the said Province, was elected Member for the County of Brome,—the Honorable Joseph Octave Beaubien, while holding the office of Commissioner of Crown Lands for the said Province, was elected Member for the County of Montmagny,—the Honorable Louis Archambault, while holding the office of Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works for the said Province, was elected Member for the County of L'Assomption,—the Honorable George Irvine, while holding the office of Solicitor General for the said Province, was elected Member for the County of Megantic,— the Honorable John Sandfield Macdonald, while holding the office of Attorney General for the Province of Ontario, was elected Member for the Town of Cornwall,—the Honorable Edmund Burke Wood, while holding the office of Treasurer for the said Province, was elected Member for the North Riding of the County of Brant,—and the Honorable John Carling, while holding the office of Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works for the said Province, was elected Member for the City of London,—and the said persons being so elected, have, since such election, sat and voted in the said House of Commons as Members thereof ; and whereas the said offices, although they are offices of trust and emolument under the Crown, are not offices in or of the Dominion of Canada, or subject to the control of the Government thereof, and it is in no wise inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the laws of the late Province of Canada referred to as aforesaid in the British North America Act of 1867, that the persons holding them should sit and vote in the said House of Commons : and whereas it is expedient to remove all doubts touching the matters aforesaid, and to declare the persons hereinbefore mentioned to have been and to be capable of being elected and of sitting and voting as Members of the House of Commons, notwithstanding their holding the said offices, and to be indemnified for having so done : Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, declares and enacts as follows :

The several persons mentioned in the Preamble declared capable of sitting and voting and indemnified for haying sat and voted

1. Each of the several persons mentioned in the preamble to this Act is hereby declared to have been and to be capable of being elected and of sitting and voting in the House of Commons as a Member thereof, notwithstanding his having held or holding at the time of his election or of his so sitting and voting, the office mentioned in the preamble as having been or being held by him, and notwithstanding that any salary may heretofore have been paid, or may hereafter be legally attached to the said offices or any of them, provided he was not, and so long as he shall not be, otherwise disqualified ; and each of the said persons shall be and is hereby indemnified and exonerated from all liability to any penalty or otherwise for having so sat and voted or for so sitting and voting while not otherwise disqualified as aforesaid.

E. M. McDonald, of Lunenburgh, declared eligible

2. And whereas Edward Mortimer McDonald, Esquire, after having been elected a Member of the House of Commons for the County of Lunenburgh, in the Province of Nova Scotia, accepted from the Government of that Province the office of Queen's Printer for the same, and has since sat and voted in the House of Commons as a Member thereof, it is hereby declared, that he has been and is capable of so sitting and voting notwithstanding his acceptance of the said office.

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